It has been a long time since we have fly fished. Spring has been slow to show itself but finally we were loaded up and heading to Washington State! It was the very first week of nice weather and there were lots of fly fishers at the lake, many of our friends came on their own. Our group of 6 ended up being closer to 13 but luckily the lake is over 7 miles long and there is lots of room for everybody!
My recently retired neighbour, Colin, came as did his buddy Murray. This was a new experience for both of them. They caught lots of lahontans as you will see in the pictures below.
It was good to see Betty and Steve from our club as well as several members of the Inland Empire Fly Fishers from Spokane, Washington. We encounter several other groups out on the lake too! Everybody was itching to get outside.
Well after a long 11 hour drive, we finally got settled and were off to the lake. The lake water temperature was still in the high 40s so we knew that we might be still fishing deep and not targeting lahontans on the edges. Well we ended up fishing in deeper water and occasionally we chased cutthroats on the edges that were just starting to cruise. It is a pre spawn habit that was at least two weeks later than usual according to our notes.
No matter, we caught lots of lahontans. Some were very impressive in size and others beautifully coloured.
We all fished both ends of the lake as well as several bays well down the lake.
The weather warmed considerably while we were there too! As a matter of fact, we encountered 30C weather. Now that is hot, especially when there is not a lot of shade. We also had the challenge of the lake being almost 5 feet higher than we have seen before. That changed some of our usual places to fish. Luckily the water visibility was excellent.
The best part of the week was the visiting. I love catching up with everybody and having a few drinks and laughs.
The fishing was excellent and we were lucky to be a bit late getting there. It was our 9th trip to fly fish this beautiful lake. We will definitely be back next year!
Lots of pictures below, click on them to make them larger! Special thanks to all of the photographers including Doug, Betty, Larry and Colin!
Colin with a beauty
Murray having a great time!
Leon and Dick tangling with some colourful lahontans!
These two characters were definitely having a great time. Age is only a number, right guys!
Betty with a colourful lahontan!
Ken and his son-in-law made their first trip to chase lahontans. I know they will be back!
Steve and Betty with more beautifully conditioned cutthroat trout!
Ken, Larry's brother, with some nice lahontans!
Larry and Doug with some beauties!
Rick tangled with many beautifully conditioned lahontans!
Las Vegas Leech tied balanced size 12 was a winner this week!
Any damsel pattern is also a great choice. This is a modified baby damsel tied with a pine squirrel tail and olive brill body!
Tokaryk Special tied balanced size 12
Rusty brown chironomid size 16 worked great at times too!
Happy hour was always a great time!
Scott and Dick out in the boat after a very windy morning!
Karen caught this monster about 10 minutes on the first day!
Rick and Doug are busy!
Wild horses!
I was fortunate enough to tangle with several beautiful specimens!
Pretty pretty!
